Obama has been wrong about Iraq from square one. He was shocked when The Surge and The Awakening turned al Qaeda from the future of Islam in Iraq into the enemy of Islam in Iraq. Stunned.

But what has me stumped is how stupid you have to be not to note you were wrong and adjust your thinking. And President Obama is trying to pretend he knows about military decisions and processes, when it is clear he doesn’t have the foggiest idea.

Instead of listening to career experts, he is stomping his foot and telling everyone he is the President so therefore he is a genius in all matters (I cannot tell you how many people fall into this diseased mind set when they get to DC – somehow being here in charge of something endows people with super human abilities, at least that is how they see it!). It’s like telling a doctor that you disagree with his diagnosis – and his predictions about what will happen when he follows through with your demand for a frontalÂ lobotomyÂ to treat a cold. Just check out Obama’s pending train wreck with the military:

CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus, supported by Defence Secretary Robert Gates, tried to convince President Barack Obama that he had to back down from his campaign pledge to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months at an Oval Office meeting Jan. 21.

But Obama informed Gates, Petraeus and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen that he wasn’t convinced and that he wanted Gates and the military leaders to come back quickly with a detailed 16-month plan, according to two sources who have talked with participants in the meeting.Â

Obama’s decision to override Petraeus’s recommendation has not ended the conflict between the president and senior military officers over troop withdrawal, however. There are indications that Petraeus and his allies in the military and the Pentagon, including Gen. Ray Odierno, now the top commander in Iraq, have already begun to try to pressure Obama to change his withdrawal policy.Â

A network of senior military officers is also reported to be preparing to support Petraeus and Odierno by mobilising public opinion against Obama’s decision.Â

Petraeus was visibly unhappy when he left the Oval Office, according to one of the sources. A White House staffer present at the meeting was quoted by the source as saying, “Petraeus made the mistake of thinking he was still dealing with George Bush instead of with Barack Obama.”Â

Emphasis mine. Yeah, George Bush listens to people who are the experts. George Bush was a leader, not a poseur. George Bush understands the military, Obama has seen it in the movies. The pathetic truth is President Obama is trying not to look stupid – so what he really doing is putting thousands of Iraqi and American lives at risk to simply save face over some uninformed campaign promise:

On Wednesday, Mr. Obama visited the Pentagon for the first time since becoming president, and he seemed to be looking for an option that would let him stay true to his campaign promise, at least in theory, without alienating the generals. The White House indicated that Mr. Obama was open to alternatives to his 16-month time frame and emphasized that security was an important factor in his decision.

â€œWeâ€™re no longer involved in a debate about whether, but how and when,â€Â Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said about a withdrawal from Iraq. â€œThatâ€™s a process the president wants to take seriously.â€

He added: â€œHe wants to ensure the safety of our troops as we remove our combat brigades; wants to, as Iâ€™ve said repeatedly, provide the responsibility and the opportunity for the Iraqis to do more in governing their own country; and, as I said, to do this in a way that seeks the consultation of all those leaders.â€

If Obama was really interested in the safety of our soldiers and the Iraqis he would be listening to the military and the Iraqis! If Obama’s priority was safety first, then he wouldn’t care one bit about a campaign promise.

But President Obama is not prioritizing his decisions that way. His efforts are to withdrawal, to not look like the militaryÂ klutzÂ we all know he is. He is trying to show he can stand up to that strange and bizarre group called our military.

He is demonstrating once again how far in over his head he is. For God’s sake, the ‘war’ is won, it IS over. Â All he has to do is not screw up the exit – and apparently he is incapable of doing that right.

9 Responses to “Will President Obama Bungle Iraq?”

I hope your sources are wrong AJ. I read that Obama wanted to cut DOD by 10%, now I’m reading that he is adding 8% to the 2010 budget. I willing to wait and see. If it is true, I’m hoping he will need to find new guys for the withdraw, because Bush’s guys will resign.

I was quite pleased to hear the applause and recognition General Petraeus received prior to the coin flip of the Super Bowl. Real live Americans sending a message to both the military and the MSM (who tried to tarnish his image but only exposed their own ignorance and arrogance in the process—and on the most socialist of the networks to boot—-hope you were listening Obermann).

Letting children drive is a nice theme in Hollywood but in the real world an adult eventually grabs control of the wheel. More and more this guy is appearing to be a tool of the clintons.

See, I keep hearing that Obama is ‘smart’ but I keep saying, where is your evidence or proof of that.
If he got into Columbia on his grades, he wouldn’t be embarrassed to release them. If he got into Harvard on his grades, he wouldn’t be embarrassed to release them. If he graduated with good grades, he wouldn’t be embarrassed to release them. After all, Pres Bush released his grades and all the democrats think he is stupid, so let’s see Obama’s grades and see if they are better or worse than Bush’s. Let’s see what stupid really looks like.
I have seen no actions by either him or his wife that show ‘smartness’, except that he keeps the right friends that know how to manipulate him to follow their directions to get him elected.
If someone disagrees with this, tell me why.

Since the Obama administration has admitted to talks with Iran for months, maybe withdrawal is one of the options he agreed to with the Iranians. So much for one president at a time. The Logan Act is another law he disregards in his arrogance. All this is way over his head. He is trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. This guy and ALL his cabinet and synchophants are skunks. Maybe Gates is all righ but I’ll bet he will cave on this withdrawal.

Fox was doing what the dems have always done about the budget. The 10% cut was not from last year’s budget but 10% of the increased amount. Instead of getting 18% raise the military will get only an 8% increase. But then Obama is killing things like the missle shield in Poland so why would they need any more. Obama will gut the military and then where will be be…back to 09/10/01?.

Obama has had some people freelancing for him, but I don’t get the feeling that if all disagree with him he wouldn’t fold.

He puts out all these campaign promises……..tax cuts etc. but he lets Nancy write the legislation. He could have had it written months before he was elected and presented it to Congress after the election. He was in touch with all his guys. He didn’t do it.

He says he will close Gitmo. Well tons of thinking has already been done on the subject with Bush, it was easy to say.

Rendition, he already reneged on that.

Abortion, every democrat has had that same stand.

Did he stand by his people, not really.

I think this guy is a front guy, I’m not sure he really believes in much really strongly. Just a thought.